The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1887-12-08
ANAnonY's STURDY FOE.

ANARCHY's STURDY FOE.
General Mcster workman PowderIy's
Lecture on His order--secret Birth and
Rapid Growth. ...r.
"The past, present and future of the
knights of Labor" was the subject of d
lecture delivered by General Master
Workman Powderly to the employees of
the Pennsylvania and Reading railroad
in Philadelphia on Friday night. He
had big and appreciative audience.
Prefaoing his address by an eloquent
denunclation OF monopoly and q passing
reference to the war for the abolition Of
slavery among the colored race only to
transfer its shackles to millions of white
men in the liberty loving country, Mr..
Powderly applied himself to the subject
proper OF his lecture, and said:
THE LECTURE.
"On Thanksgiving eve, in the year
1863, there was born i'll Philadelphia an
organization destined to hold forth the
hand OF fellowship to overy man, which
and iu view of which it was made possi-
bic for the meanest sweeper that lifts the
oifal off our streets to look up with hope
to better and less degrading future.
"Thus was given to the world the
knights OF Labor, which worked IS O.
secret organization until September,
1881, when in the city of Detroit it laid
It's secrecy aside and tho Knight camo
forth IN his manhood and proclaimed to
the tollerS of the earth that he bclongcd
to body which took no account of
creed or color, but had pledged itself to
work earnestly and pcrsistently for tho
collective and individual interests of its
members.
"To-day that organization is the
strongest III membership, the strongest
IN intelligence and tho strongest in man
hood OF any organization ever created
beneath the blue sky of heaven. We
welcome to our ranks every man, not, as
has been said, for the dollars or dimes
ms accession may bring, but to teach
INN the things Ill our social system that
need remedy and create public
opinlon upon the objects we have set
ourselves to attain"
LABoR-SAvING MACHINERY,
MIR. Powderly next referred to the in.
PRODUCTION of labor-savinu machinery.
and Ill this connection said: "Do [ rail
against labor-saving machinery?" No.
But J. say that at present it is not prop-
erly applied, and that we worki1emen
who SHOULD, do not derive the benefits
from its introduction to which labor. rs
distinguished from capital, is entitled.
What. then, should We do in this con-
nectlon? l. raise my voice and say.
agltnte along the line of labor; agitate
until all those who avail of those ma
chin@" now arc compelled to realize that
they were not intended solely for them
H.
and that mankind should reap the bene-
fits from them"
LEGISLATION AND IMMIGRATION.
Mr.. Powderly next applied himself to
the Legislative work accomplished by the
order since It's inception. This, he said,
wnS 9f@Itcr than any amount Of remedial
legislation Tor the working classes that
was passed by either OF the political par
Hes III the same period of their early cx-
iStcncu.
Thc question of foreign labor was
nlludrd to, and III reference thereto the
lecturer SAID he was not opposed TO for
clSn Immigration provided the immi-
grants came to stay and become part aud
parcel of the country Of the adoption.
lie warmly denounced imported contract
labor, and gave Il graphic picture OF the
Wretchedness and filth OF the domestic
surroundings of somo Hungarian miners
whose district he had visited somo years
ago.
DEFENDING TIE MINERS,
Or the miners i'll the Lehigh region
Mr.. Powdcrly said: ''It is said that the
miners are rough and uncouth lot.
mat denouncc rs false slander. No
b"Vcr, kinder or more generous body of
men brcathcs the air of heaven than the
miners Of the Schuylkill and Lchigh
Valley coal regions.
"A breaker is burned, the smoke
ascends to heaven and the telegraph
wires ilnsh the news that it was done by
the striking miners. ] say that is Il bare
faced lie. No miner ever did it, for the
minors are not fools. They know that
all the property there is heavily covered
by insurance, and they have feelings of
revenge ut ali they will not avenge them
selves on the insurance companies, who
arc certainly not their opprcssors.